Digital Dismemberment: The Legend of Hell House Blu-Ray Review
Director- John Hough
Producer- Albert Fennell, Norman T. Herman, James H. Nicholson and Susan Hart
Special FX- Roy Whybrow
Cast- Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt, Roland Culver, Peter Bowles and Michael Gough
Released By- Scream Factory
Release Date- 7/26/14
The Premise: It sits here, shrouded in mist and mystery, a nesting place for living evil and terror from the dead. It’s Hell House. Roddy McDowell heads the cast of this exciting chiller about four psychic investigators and the dark, brooding mansion they call “the Mt. Everest of haunted houses.” It’s already destroyed one team of researchers. Now this brave quartet ventures in for another try at unraveling its secrets. But before they succeed, they must suffer through madness, murder and everything else that the spirits who dwells here have in store for them. Yet learning the truth just might drive them all insane. An ingeniously devised ghost story, The Legend of Hell House will thrill and delight veteran horror fans from the first creaking door the the very last slithering shadow.
John Hough’s The Legend of Hell House is a perfect vision of what proper atmosphere, excellent writing and a great cast can do for the paranormal genre. From the novel written by Richard Matheson and taking small plot points from loosely based stories on the life of occultist Alesiter Crowley, Hough manages to craft his vision of a house beset with horrific events and spirits with a bloodlust equal to any other creature in the genre. The film was originally supposed to take place in New England with American investigators (originally, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were coveted by Matheson to play the lead roles), but due to the film being made in England, the locations and nationalities of the investigators were changed. The house used in the film certainly provides a sense of foreboding danger, and the performances of the actors really helps to convey the dread. Pamela Franklin (Florence Tanner) is highly convincing as the wide eyed innocent medium, while Roddy McDowell (Benjamin Franklin Fischer) plays his character with a detachment that makes you fear what he really knows. Clive Revill (Dr. Barrett) and Gayle Hunnicutt (Ann Barrett) play well off of each other as well as husband and wife, with Revill’s skepticism and Hunnicutt’s repressed sexuality ratcheting even more tension. While we never get the definitive answer as to what really lies on the other side of death, the film manages to scare the hell out of you without being overly gratuitous. A must for fans of the genre and anyone who loves the supernatural, modern day film makers can learn a lot from this film.
We start off with seeing Dr. and Mrs. Barrett in a waiting room. The good doctor is called back into a meeting and is offered a huge sum of money to go with a team to investigate Hull House, a reputed haunted house. After being told that he will be working with two other psychics (the young Florence Tanner and the survivor of the last quest into the house, Benjamin Franklin Fischer) and displaying his displeasure, he takes the job and relents in letting his wife come along so that he can prove his theories. Given a few scant days to make their investigation, they all meet at the foreboding house. After walking through the house and filling one another in on what details they have about the previous inhabitant, they waste no time in conducting a reading through Tanner. During the reading, she projects ectoplasm from her fingers and is in contact with a spirit that claims to be the son of the owner. Later that evening, the spirit seemingly toys with Tanner in her room, opening doors and throwing her blanket at her. The next day, she tells Dr. Barrett about the experience and he asks to do another sitting under more scientific grounds. The sitting is more powerful than before, and again later that day, the spirit visits Tanner’s room…
When Tanner confronts Barrett again, they argue about what happened. As Tanner gets angry, the spirit shatters a glass in Barrett’s hand and various food implements are thrown at him, culminating in him almost being crushed by a chandelier in the room. Barrett believes that Tanner is controlling the spirit and making it do harm to others. Later that night, Mrs. Barrett is looking through some old books that relate to sexuality and other odd paranormal activities. She becomes possessed by a spirit and attempts to seduce Fischer, but he resists and slaps her out of it. Tanner explores the house and finds what she believes are the remains of the son and is physically attacked by the spirit, resulting in several bloody scratches on her body. They lay the remains to rest in a ceremony, but Tanner is still haunted in her dreams by the spirit. After she awakens, a cat enters her room and there is a horrific struggle as the cat claws her up. She manages to escape the room bloody and beaten, but alive. Later on in the evening, the spirit once again possesses Mrs. Barrett and she tries again to seduce Fischer, but he resists. Dr. Barrett walks in and sees what is happening until she snaps out of the possession. After a discussion with Fischer, Barrett is convinced that he is holding back…
In private, Fischer opens himself up to the house and screams in agony as he feels the presence in the house run through him. All the members of the group keep trying to get one another to leave the house, but no one will listen to each other. Dr. Barrett has a machine brought to the house that he believes will reverse the negative energy of the evil spirits contained in it. Fischer disagrees and tries to tell him to lie about the results of their experiments and just leave, but Barrett refuses. Tanner opens herself up to the spirit sexually so that it has the power to leave the house, but it simply abuses and possesses her again. She attempts to sabotage Dr. Barrett’s machine, but fails to do significant damage and is subdued. After firing up his machine and attempting to clear the house of the negative energy, Barrett is shocked to discover that his machine did not work with the attempted purpose. Will they be able to cleanse Hull House of the evil spirits and energy that plague it? Do they find the answers to what lies on the other side of death? You are going to have to watch to find out…
Bonus Features
Audio Commentary with Actress Pamela Franklin
The Story of Hell House- (28 Minutes) Interview with Director John Hough. A really nice and detailed interview with the director about the story, locations, cast and crew from the film and the possibilities of a sequel.
Photo Gallery
Radio Spots
Also Available from Scream Factory- Trailers from other films released by Scream Factory including The Vampire Lovers and The Amityville Horror.
Discs: 1
Format: NTSC
Color: Color
Rating: PG
Aspect Ratio: 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.85:1)
Language: English
Shout!/Scream Factory has once again brought to us a classic horror film that is more than deserving of the Blu-Ray upgrade, and The Legend of Hell House is no exception! Blowing away previous additions such as 20th Century Fox’s 2001 bare bones DVD and the 3 disc Quadruple Feature set including The Amityville Horror (2005), Poltergesit II and III (also from 20th Century Fox), this release loses none of the quality as the colors remain bold and rich while maintaining the darkness needed for atmosphere while the sound is incredibly robust for a mono track. The interview with Director John Hough contains a wealth of information and insight and the commentary track with Actress Pamela Franklin does the same. The photo gallery is a treasure trove of stills from the production, and as always, the radio spots are fascinating to listen to as you try to conjure the film in your head. The addition of other Scream Factory trailers is nice as well and gives a glimpse of the other great films in their portfolio. Once again, this release is the perfect example of why Shout!/Scream Factory is the standard bearer for Blu-Ray horror releases!
Movie Rating: 4 out of 5
DVD Rating: 8.5 out of 10
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